New growth in the Noongar season of Makuru (June/July) features shades of purple, blue and green, with a splash of rusty red. Into Djilba (August) the theme turns to yellow with Prickly Moses, yellow buttercups, conostylis, Donkey orchids and cowslips on full show.
Pretty in Purple
Blue squill, blue tinsel lily, hardenbergia and common hovea are among the many blue and purple blooms during the wet winter months.
Photo: Helen Carter
Mellow yellow
Vibrant yellow blooms also proliferate across in these months.
Orchids
As the orchid season cranks up in August, snail and jug orchids and varieties of greenhoods emerge from the leaf litter, followed by cowslips and donkey orchids.
Dusky Dwarf Sheoaks
Love is in the air for the lovely flowering dwarf sheoaks (Allocasuarina humilis). These plants are ‘dioecious’, meaning they are either male or female. The male flower is rust coloured, while the female plant has bright red flowers and cones. A male dwarf sheoak will often have a harem of female plants which are wind-pollinated.
Sundew
Sundew (drosera) also appear in the cooler months. There are over 200 species of drosera in the world and more than half of them are found in south-west WA. No less than nine varieties have been identified in Jirdarup.
Despite their delicate appearance, drosera are deadly for insects! Their tiny tendrils tipped with sweet sticky goo attract and catch the unlucky bugs, which are smothered in a death hug and suffocated, then slowly digested by enzymes to provide nitrogen for the plant.
